Exploiting the St Patrick’s opportunity for business

With 140,000 people employed directly by US firms here, encouraging US inward investment has been a policy imperative for successive Irish governments for many years.

For the duration of St Patrick's week each year there is significant business development activity across the United States with State agencies, Government Ministers and the private sector all involved in promoting Ireland.

"No country in the world gets such a disproportionate opportunity to showcase itself to investors the way Ireland does around St Patrick's Day – particularly in the US," according to KPMG managing partner Shaun Murphy.

Traditionally, the big US cities have been at the heart of St Patrick’s Day activity and, while they are still vital centres for promoting Ireland, other locations have come to the fore of late.

For example, this week the ITLG (Irish Technology Leaders Group) will host a St Patrick's Day female leaders business breakfast in Palo Alto, California. Meanwhile, world leading technology event SXSW (South by Southwest) takes place in Austin, Texas, with a strong Irish presence pursuing inward investment opportunities.

Murphy sees significant benefits in having a high profile at these type of events: “This showcasing of Ireland’s appeal is vital in helping start conversations with people about Ireland and the reasons to consider investing here.”

Alongside IDA Ireland, others such as Enterprise Ireland, the Irish Film Board, Culture Ireland and the Dublin Start-up Commissioner are all very active across the US. "This week is a tremendous lead generation opportunity for Ireland and considerable effort is focused on encouraging people to consider Ireland as their European investment centre," says Murphy.

Potential investors

He highlights a deliberate shift in emphasis to broaden the appeal of Ireland to potential investors. “The core inward investment messages are based on both the business and personal and lifestyle benefits that locating here can deliver.”

The reasons to invest in Ireland have changed as well, he notes. “It’s no longer enough to trade on tax alone and Ireland works hard to have as broad an appeal as possible to both companies and their people.”

He points to KPMG’s “Choose Ireland” campaign to encourage inward investment and its focus on Ireland’s attributes including the important quality of life benefits as an example of this shift. In this context, Murphy believes that the current IDA strategy is highly appropriate.

“International business has become multifaceted with a big emphasis on creative capability – Ireland is increasingly successful in establishing a point of difference by focusing on talent and other unique benefits.”

He adds that the IDA's combined value propositions of 4Ts (tax, track record, talent, technology) and 4Es (euro, Europe, English and education) are highly compelling, while acknowledging that the competition for inward investment is increasingly intense.

From a policy perspective Murphy refers to American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland estimates of job creation in the US multinational sector here. It predicts growth of about 10 per cent in the next two years and estimates 14,000 new jobs in Ireland in that period. So how best to ensure this growth continues?

“Ireland does well by any standards – for example KPMG’s Annual Survey of Tax Competitiveness 2015 shows that we still have the most competitive tax regime of all countries surveyed,” he says.

Talent

While acknowledging the key role of taxation policy, Murphy also points to the increasing importance of talent. “A competitive corporation tax rate matters but the ability to help business move up the value chain is largely driven by the talent in that business. We need creative people in Ireland driving innovation to help achieve that objective.”

Notwithstanding the election results, Murphy believes business still needs balanced policies to encourage enterprise and innovation, and to appropriately reward work. He also believes it is unwise to see policy simply in terms of attracting multinational business.

“Innovators, entrepreneurs and domestic enterprises are huge contributors to employment creation. They are also highly mobile, so we can’t take their presence or our appeal for granted.”

And this applies to people regardless of nationality. “Making Ireland attractive to innovators is just as much about encouraging Irish entrepreneurs to stay here as it is about selling Ireland as a location for non-Irish people,” he adds.

In the context of nurturing talent and ensuring the right skill base to meet demand, Murphy believes there are several other policy priorities in need of constant review. In particular, he emphasises the need for continued action in areas such as gender diversity. As an example he cites initiatives to encourage greater participation in technology subjects among female students.

“There is a need for a long- term strategy to encourage female second-level students to choose subjects in these areas to help us develop to our full potential. Given the intense competition for inward investment, making sure we have the best talent in place will remain a priority.”